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Swiss curator, art critic and historian Hans Ulrich Obrist is the artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries in London. His ongoing endeavor is the Interview Project, a series of marathon interview events with artists and others like Dawoud Bey, Patti Smith, Anish Kapoor, and Mike Tyson that often can go on for as long as 24 hours. It was a series of books documenting conversations between artists that sparked the series initially: “These books somehow brought me to art. They were like oxygen, and were the first time that the idea of an interview with an artist as a medium became of interest to me,” he told Artbook about the project. Over 2000 hours of interview have been recorded so far.

Below are Hans Ulrich Obrist's favorite books, available to purchase individually or as a set. See the full list...10

Trilogy

Friederike Mayröcker

At the age of 18 I made a pilgrimage to Vienna to meet the artist Maria Lassnig. I was fascinated by her amazing ‘body awareness’ paintings. It was during this first meeting that she told me about the great Friederike Mayröcker, one of her favorite poets. Ever since, I have read every book Mayröcker has written and my favorite is her recent Trilogy, and particularly the book Fleurs with all its amazing neologisms. To her, poems are like watercolors, while prose is like a stone sculpture. She now creates collages of the two, which she terms ‘proems.’

9

Surge

Etel Adnan

The latest book by the great poet and artist Etel Adnan is a fragmentary exploration of reality. “Mountains are languages and languages are mountains.” These are aphorisms for the future. During my most recent visit, she added to my Instagram archive of hand-written notes the words, “Your identity is your prison.”

8

Les Cigognes Sont Immortelles

Alain Mabanckou

Mabanckou is one of the greatest storytellers, famous for his book, Black Moses. Les Cigognes Sont Immortelles, whichcombines the personal and political; it shows the impact that history, violence and civil war has on a family, against the backdrop of colonization and decolonization. I was particularly struck by this recent quote of his: “The civilization of tomorrow is the sum of marginalities.

Writing Home

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

To The Lighthouse

Grand lists is a curated arts site specializing in books and movies selected by 100 public figures and celebrities, ranging from designers, musicians, artists, actors, performers and directors, to politicians, novelists, scientists and athletes.